Another top federal prosecutor has resigned from the United States Department of Justice amid pressure from the administration of President Donald Trump.
The Reuters news agency reported that Denise Cheung left her post on Tuesday, after leading the criminal division of the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
In her resignation letter, obtained by several US news agencies, she highlighted her long career in civil service.
“I have been proud to serve at the U.S. Department of Justice and this office for over 24 years,” Cheung wrote.
“I took an oath of office to support and defend the Constitution, and I have executed this duty faithfully.”
But she explained she was ordered to resign after she refused to launch a criminal probe she felt was not merited.
The requested probe had to do with a contract awarded under the administration of Trump’s predecessor and former election rival, Democrat Joe Biden.
Cheung wrote that she had been asked to launch a grand jury investigation into the legality of the contract. But she indicated that, after research, she found no evidence to justify such a probe.
Then she was asked to seek an asset freeze, preventing funds from being disbursed under the contract.
So Cheung sent the bank involved a letter “recommending a 30-day administrative freeze on certain assets”.
But officials in the Trump administration pushed her to send a second letter, specifying that the request came as part of a criminal investigation.
Cheung identified Ed Martin, the interim head of the US Attorney’s Office in Washington, DC, as one of the officials giving her orders. She addressed her letter to him.
“When I explained that the quantum of evidence did not support that action, you stated that you believed that there was sufficient evidence,” she wrote.
“Based upon the evidence I have reviewed, I still do not believe there is sufficient evidence to issue the letter you described, including sufficient evidence to tell the bank there is probable cause to seize the particular accounts identified.”
Trump announced on Monday that he had nominated Martin to take on the US attorney role permanently.
A far-right activist, Martin had helped raise money for rioters involved in the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, which was led by Trump supporters.
He also played a role in organising a “Stop the Steal” rally, which spread the false claim that Trump’s defeat in 2020 was due to voter fraud.
Cheung said her actions were necessary to uphold the standards of the US attorney’s office. “All that we do is rooted in following the facts and the law and complying with our moral, ethical and legal obligations,” she wrote.
Her departure on Tuesday was the latest in a series of resignations from the Justice Department, as prosecutors denounce actions they consider unethical under Trump.
Last week, at least seven Justice Department lawyers quit their posts after the Trump administration called for them to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Trump and Adams had recently had a rapprochement, with the mayor agreeing to participate in the president’s immigration initiatives.
Several of the Justice Department lawyers indicated that the decision to drop the charges against Adams was politically motivated, rather than based on the evidence.
“Any assistant U.S. attorney would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials, in this way,” the lead prosecutor, Hagan Scotten, said in his resignation letter.
“If no lawyer within earshot of the President is willing to give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me.”
The acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration, Michelle King, also resigned over the weekend in the wake of attempts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to access sensitive personal information.
On Tuesday, in a news conference from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump briefly addressed King’s departure, implying she had not willingly resigned.
“When you fire somebody, they always resign, and then they say, ‘We resigned,’” he said, accusing the Social Security Administration of “massive fraud”. He did not offer evidence to substantiate that claim, though.
